Forming a habit takes more than..
They say building a habit takes 21 days.
I reckon it’s more than that.
When I was growing up, I usually heard “ you exercise only if you want to lose weight.”
FYI. It’s not true. Exercising is a lifestyle, to help you be fit, healthy and strong. It has got nothing to do with weight. In fact “weight” is not even the right measure of health.
So when I approached late twenties, I realised my metabolism had massively decreased. Whereas once I could eat junk all day and feel fit, now even 1 piece of cookie made me feel bloated. Sugar became my biggest enemy. And that was hard as I am a complete sweet tooth.
I gained around 11 pounds without even realising when that happened. It’s funny how you never know when weight creeps on you.
So I decided I finally had to hit the gym.
Honestly, starting was not hard.
In fact starting was fun. Buying cute gym clothes, shoes, learning new things, taking gym selfies, etc.
What was hard — Consistency.
Getting up every single day despite the body ache and laziness to hit the gym. That was hard.
Saying no to sugar. That was hard
It wasn’t 21 days in a stretch. It was two weeks of exercise followed by one week of break then binge eating and then the whole process repeated. The cycle was unreal.
It took me a whole year of ups and downs before going to the gym wasn’t that hard anymore. Of course there are still lazy days but luckily just one off.
I don’t diet. I still snack, indulge in cravings, but the key is balance. I have learnt to balance my portions.
What helped? 3 things -
Surrounding yourself with people who motivate you. -
Your tribe decides your vibe. Cliche but true. My husband and I got onto this journey together. We created a white board to track our fitness. The day we didn’t go, we crossed it out with a red cross. Too many red crosses made us feel bad and it pushed us to be more frequent. I also made a lot of friends at the gym who helped to push me further.
2. Knowing it’s not something impossible.
When you know something is achievable and people have done it, it makes the journey easier. It makes you feel you are not the only one. Watching various videos on healthy diet, people becoming fitter, their weight loss journey, etc motivated me that I could do it as well.
3. Reducing temptations
I threw all the junk from my house. Eliminating the temptations from your surrounding reduces your chance in indulging in it. Not like I didn’t cheat but cheating became and effort. And when something becomes an effort, you do it less.
Most importantly. Keep going. It’s ok if you take a break. It’s ok if you cheat, just keep moving. Eventually it will get easier.
And this mantra is pretty much applicable to everything in life. Despite challenges, despite hurdles, keep moving even if it’s slow and even if it’s not steady. You don’t always have to run. Walk, crawl, skip if you may have to. But just keep going.
Like Nemo says, “ Keep swimming.”